Pep Guardiola congratulates Man United and Alexis Sanchez on deal

MANCHESTER -- Pep Guardiola insisted he was not bitter about Manchester City missing out on Alexis Sanchez and wished the Arsenal forward good luck with his career ahead of an expected move to Manchester United.

"I am not the guy with the numbers, what I know right now is that Alexis is an Arsenal player and I think he'll go to United so congratulations to both of them and good luck," Guardiola told a news conference ahead of their Premier League clash with Newcastle United. "My opinion of Alexis remains the same, I wish him all the best.

"The players and their managers decide what's best for both, there's nothing to add. My opinion of Alexis remains the same, a pleasure at Barcelona and he's going to decide to move on to another club and I wish him all the best."

Pep Guardiola and Manchester City decided against pursuing Alexis Sanchez.

Guardiola refused to be drawn on the possibility of a new centre-half joining during the transfer window with sources telling ESPN FC that they are set to bid for West Bromwich Albion defender Jonny Evans.

He said there was no news on possible deals but added that he no problem in bringing in new players to his squad during January.

"All the players around the world, when you take players in winter to improve and to achieve their goals that's all," Guardiola added.

"Always I believe if the players adapt quickly and their quality, it depends if they are nice people. We are looking for nice people to come to help if we believe we need them."

The City boss did admit he has a potential problem at left back with Fabian Delph ruled out "for a while" with a knee problem.

Benjamin Mendy is still out for at least three months with a cruciate knee ligament injury and Guardiola says that other players have to step up in their absence.

"Right now, in the next weeks, we have a problem," he said. "We've had it all season, we started with just one [left] full-back because we had spent enough money on other full-backs.

"We knew that, now the problem with Fabian we are going to see how we solve it.

"It's not just for two games -- it will be longer. In these situations, it depends on the mentality of the players, if they can make a step forward. If can they play in positions that are not natural positions and the other guys help them. When they play in natural positions, everything is going well."

Jonathan is ESPN FC's Manchester City correspondent. Follow him on Twitter: @jonnysmiffy.